Barcelona’s sell-off scramble! Catalans STILL ‘need to bring in £17m before they can register Jules Kounde’… leaving them to offload Aubameyang, Depay, Umtiti, Dest and Braithwaite before the window shuts
- Barcelona have registered all but one of their big money summer signings
- Jules Kounde joined from Sevilla for £46m, but has been unable to play
- The Catalan giants are ‘confident’ they will be able to register the defender
- Xavi is hoping to offload fringe players in order to raise the £17m required
Xavi’s Barcelona side are ‘anxious to offload players’ as they look to raise the ‘£17 million needed to register new signing Jules Kounde’.
Kounde is the only one of the Catalan Giants’ summer signings that is yet to be registered, and has missed the club’s first two league games after joining for £46m from Sevilla.
The money needed to register Kounde is likely to be raised by selling fringe players, with the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang linked to Chelsea and Manchester United, while Memphis Depay is in talks with Juventus.
Jules Kounde joined Barcelona from Sevilla in a deal worth £46 million this summer
Xavi’s Barcelona side need to raise another £17m in order to register the defender
According to reports in AS, Barcelona are ‘confident’ they will raise the ‘£17m’ needed to register Kounde before their deadline at the start of September.
However, they also claim there have been some issues in the club’s plans to export unneeded players, as Martin Brathwaite is showing a ‘lack of interest in a change of scenery’ despite Mallorca enquiring about the forward.
One transfer that is close to going through is that of Samuel Umtiti, who is undergoing a medical with Italian club Lecce.
Speaking in a press conference ahead of Barcelona’s 4-1 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday, Xavi said: ‘It doesn’t bother me that players don’t want to leave, everyone looks to their future; it bothers me not being able to have Kounde.
Selling out-of-favour players such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could help raise the money
Kounde is a great leader and a great player. Hopefully he shows it soon. He has trained very well, I see him in good spirits, but we need to sell players to be able to register him.’
He also hinted at potential departures for Depay and Aubameyang, saying: ‘The transfer market ends on Aug. 31 and we don’t know what will happen. Auba and Memphis are still here, so tomorrow we will use them. But the priority is to register Kounde.’
Both forwards were unused substitutes in the match, while new signing Robert Lewandoswki bagged a brace.
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